Is there anything I can do? (E. agricolae problem)

[mat.si]

Hi!
Does anyone have any experience with this?

I have a pair of E. agricolae + a younger male.
The pair was kept together, but I never observed any copulation or connected activity by the male. The female also didn't lay any eggs by now.
Because the younger male has grown quite a bit in the last few months, I removed the bigger male from the terrarium and put the younger one with the female. After about 20 minutes I heard some noises from their terrarium and noticed the male chasing the female and they were copulating shortly after that, although the male is much smaller than the female. (The bigger, older male is not much bigger)

Everything was OK for about a week, but then one night I saw one of the smaller male's hemipenis hanging out. :shock:

I hoped everything would be OK by morning, but it wasn't.
It's now been almost two days and one of the male's hemipenis is still hanging out. It still looks OK, not dry or damaged.
After the first day I tried to lubricate it and gently push it back inside, first with a blunt probe, then with the fingers. Then I tried to cover it with some powdered sugar, like with the cloacal prolapse. Nothing worked.

Is there anything else I can do, or will he lose the hemipenis?
Can the male still breed with one hemipenis?
I never had this happen to any of my geckos.


Matjaz

 

[DDReptiles]

Usually if it hasn't gone in after all you have done it usually has to be amputated. Try Just letting it soak in sugar water.

They can still breed with one hemipenis.

 

[geckodan]

If the non retracted hemipene is of normal size (i.e. not swollen and puffy) then hypertonic sugar water will have no effect but may encourage secondary bacterial/fungal infection. If it has failed to retract after 2 days then it is likely that the nerve/muscle system involved with hemipenal retraction is damaged. If the structure is not dried and dessicated then antiinflammatories such as oral METACAM may be worth a shot but amputation is likely to be needed. As Derek said, this won't effect future breeding as he can use his "spare".

Danny

 

[snmreptiles]

We had this happen about 5 years ago with P. Picta male...Same situation I tried everything. I gave up, and ended up having Shelley tie dental floss around (I couldn't do it). I want to say it was about 10 days before it fell off! He still bred fine for a few years, he was one of our oldest breeders to begin with! Good luck!

 

[sikorae]

Hope everything turns out ok for the little guy.

 

[mat.si]

Hi!
Thank you all very much for your advice and help with this.

I think it's now been three full days, since it happened. It's still hanging out and although it doesn't look damaged, it probably is a little bit enlarged by now.
The amputation will probably be the only solution.
I guess this young male was a bit too enthusiatic about breeding with the female.

I often see him lying on the plant with the posterior part of the body lifted a bit, probably trying to avoid touching the surface with the everted hemipenis.

Matjaz

 

[snmreptiles]

Just for clarification, I didn't use dental floss it was just regular sewing thread. It was much finer than dental floss was and easier to tie off around something that was that small. Good luck!

-Shelley

 

[mat.si]

Thanks.
M

 

[herperboy]

I would really suggest taking him to a veterinarian. Even if you dont have a reptile vet in your area a regular one could most likey do this. It would only involve sedating the animal and then removing the hemipenis with a cauterizing cutter(if anybody knows what this is called I would really like to know). Since it is a simple operation and should not take more than a minute once the animal is sedated it should not be very expensive. I had this done to one of my male cresteds without much issue.

 

[geckodan]

cauterizing cutter

Diathermy Unit

 

[snmreptiles]

There's no way I would risk the life of one of my animals to an inexperienced vet especially when talking about sedation!! I don't think I have ever had a vet fix a problem with a reptile I have taken in. I have tried 3 or 4 times, always paid for it, but the problem was never resolved! My .02

Mike
www.snmreptiles.com

 

[mat.si]

My thoughts exactly.
There's not a vet in my whole country, with any worthwhile experience with reptiles, specially not geckos. Sedation can be tricky business, specially with a very small gecko.

Let me told you, what one guy who had his veiled chameleon lay eggs for the first time told me. The supposedly "best expert in reptiles" vet in the whole country told him to spray the eggs with the disinfectant so they won't mold. :shock:
The guy was very confused, but clever enough not to do it.
When I heard this, I didn't know either to or .

Matjaz